Bangladesh Should Accept, Protect Rohingya Refugees

“Of course I want to go back home,” an elderly woman, a Rohingya refugee from Burma, told me last year when I visited a camp in Teknaf, near the Bangladesh-Burma border. “But it’s not safe there, so I fear I will be buried in this foreign land.”

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) stand guard on the bank of Naf River near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border to preventRohingya refugees from illegal border crossing, in Teknaf near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, November 22, 2016.

The Bangladeshi government, however, says it doesn’t want more Rohingya refugees. While there are more than 30,000 registered refugees in the country, authorities estimate that 300,000 to 500,000 unregistered Rohingya are also already living in Bangladesh. The government has ordered the border guards, navy, and coast guard to secure sea and land access. “Rohingya infiltration is an uncomfortable issue for Bangladesh,” said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan. “We don’t want illegal Rohingya immigration.” Several hundred have already been pushed back. Those that have managed to cross have told the media they are escaping terrible abuses.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has pressed the Burmese government to provide immediate humanitarian access to provide aid to the Rohingya in accordance with international law and has asked Bangladesh to keep its border open to any civilians fleeing the violence.

Bangladesh has long argued that it cannot afford to host the Rohingya, and it is of course imperative for the international community to provide necessary assistance. However, under customary international law, Bangladesh may not summarily reject at the border asylum seekers fleeing widespread human rights abuses or generalized violence. It is obligated to allow them to enter the country and seek protection.

At the Teknaf camp, the Rohingya survive in abysmal conditions at barely subsistence levels. The condition of those unregistered is worse say local activists – they seldom approach the police to report crimes or visit hospitals, fearing that they will discovered, arrested, and possibly returned. Yet, more keep coming because the situation back home is a serious risk to their lives and liberty. As the elderly woman told me, “No one wants us. It feels like a sin to have been born.”